Baby garment



Nov. 21, 1950 M. L. NEAL BABY GARMENT Original Filed July 15, 1946 FIG.2

FIG. I

FIG. 4

FIG.

MARY LUCILE NEAL;

Patented Nov. 21, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BABY GARMENT Mary.LucileNeal, Baton Rouge, La;

Original application July 15, 1946,. Serial No. 683,644; Dividedand thisapplication July 30, 1948, Serial No. 41,569

3"Claims. 1

This invention relates to improvements in baby garments and is morparticularly concernedwith animproved baby diaper of the type disclosedin myapplioation SerialNo. 683,644, filed. July 15, 1946, of which thepresent applicationis aidivision;

The improved diaper type garment according tomy aforesaid application isdesigned for wear by babies of varying sizes and stages of growth, i. e;from the infant stage, usually considered as up to six months, throughthe normal diaperwearing stage, usually up to two years of age. A diaperof "this type may also be worn as an outer garment, particularly bybabies in the latter stages of their diaper Wearing period, and to thisend-, provision'is made for av suspender form of support'thereforwhereby the resultingdiaper- Suspender-"combination" has thegeneralappeare ance of and maybe worn substantially. as a sunsuit.

When so worn, it is desirable to provide the diaper with absorbentproperties in addition to those inherent therein, and itis: theprincipal aim of the present invention to provide a diaper havingenhanced absorbent properties which make it suitable for wear as anouter garment, i. e., as asunsuit, bybabies inthe latter stages of theirdiaper-wearing period, although it is of course to beunderstood that adiaper having the increased. absorbent properties as herein provided .isalso of'advantage for wear by 'babies in the .infantstage. Moreparticularly, it is the'aim of the invention to provide a diaperincorporating a novel construction of pocket for receiving andmaintaining in proper wearing position a pad of absorbent material,preferably of the readily disposable type. To facilitate pad insertionand removal, and as an aid in conforming the pocket and its absorbentpad to the body, the pocket is secured to the diaper only at its top andbottom or waist-line edges, and it opens along one side edge only.Preferably, the pocket opening is closed by a swingable fly'or flapwhich can be optionally folded to the body or diaper sides of theabsorbent pad contained in the pocket, thus to provide the addedmaterial of the closure flap either adjacent the body or outwardly ofthe pad, as desired.

The above and other objects and features of advantage of a pocket-typediaper according to the invention will be apparent from the followingdetailed description thereof, taken with the accompanying drawings, inwhich Fig. 1 is a plan view of a pocket-type diaper according to theinvention as viewed from the body side thereof, the view. showing theimproved pocket construction and further illustratingrthe closure flapin itspocket-closing position in which it extends to th'e'bodysideofthepocket and its contained absorbent pad.

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1, illustrating the pocket closing flapswung to a position in which it is disposed outwardly-of the absorbentpad, i. e. intermediate thediaper proper 'and the pocket; and

Figs. 3 and 4 are sections taken. along'lines 33 and :4-4 of Figs. 1and2, respectively.

Referring to the drawings, the diaperdesignated I0 isgenerally'rectangularz' in shape and may be made from folded sheercottonmaterial, which is bound along all outer edges with a bind .ing II. Preferably, the diaper is formed outwardly concave along its sideedges 12, l3.to provide a relatively narrow-width crotch portion, andits upper edge I4 is curved slightly in upward direc tion so as toprovide comfortable fit-in the abdomen portion of the baby wearing thesame.

The aforesaid diaper is shown to be provided in itscornor portions withtwo diagonal rows of hook-receiving pockets a, b, c and d, which openinwardly or away from the corners, so as to receive hook-shaped fastenerelements (not shown), as'is more fullydisclosed in myaforesaidapplication Ser. No. 683,644. In use, the diaper is applied intheconventional manner, the pocketed corners being lapped over the sides ofthe baby, and the lapped corners being thereupon secured by theaforesaid hook fasteners. However, in a diaper according to the presentinvention, other forms of diaper securing means may be utilized.

According to the present invention, the diaper I0 is provided with aninner face pocket, generally designated [5, for receiving a pad I6 ofabsorbent material, preferably of the disposable type. As seen in Figs.1 and 2, the pocket I5 extends the full length of the diaper, and it ispreferably fashioned from a single piece of fabric material which isfolded intermediate its side edges along two lengthwise lines of fold,thus to provide three plies I8, I 9 and 26 (Figs. 3 and 4) of which theply It! forms the pocket front wall and the ply IS the pocket rear wall,the ply 20 constituting a closure fly or flap which may extend over theopen mouth of the pocket, as defined by th free side edge of the ply l9and the line of fold between plie l8 and 20.

It is a feature of the present invention that the pocket is secured tothe diaper only along its upper and lower ends, as by securing the endedges of the plies l8 and 19 to the top and hottom (waist-line) edges ofthe diaper by means of the edge binding l3 thereof. This arrangementresults in a swing-pocket construction and moreover leaves the flap 20free so that it may be folded either to a pocket-closing positionillustrated in Figs. 1 and 3 or to a position intermediate the pocketand diaper, as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 4. In its pocket-closingposition, the flap extends over the open mouth of the pocket and thusserves as a closure therefor; whereas, when folded to lie intermediatepocket and diaper, it provides extra material outwardly of the pad.

In use, the disposable pad I6 is inserted into the pocket through itsopen mouth, and the flap 2!! is disposed either in its pocket-closingposition (Figs. 1 and 3) or intermediate the pocket and the inner faceof the diaper (Figs. 2 and 4). In either case, the flap providesadditional absorptive properties and further supplies an added thicknessof material in the crotch portion of the garment. Due to the swingmounting of the pocket, 1. e. its end edge connection only to thediaper, both the pocket and the pad is enabled to conform itself to thebody of the baby to which the diaper is applied.

A pocket-type diaper as aforesaid is of particular advantage for use inthe diaper-suspender combination disclosed in my application aforesaidin that it provides the added absorptive properties desirable when thediaper is Worn as an outer garment, and without the protection of rubberpants. However, it is to be understood that the pocket-type diaper ofthe present invention may also be employed for infants up to six monthsof age to take advantage of the increased absorptive properties impartedthereto by the absorbent pad [6.

Due to the open-mouth pocket construction aforesaid, the absorbent padmay be readily inserted into the diaper pocket and removed therefrom fordisposal in the usual manner. To increase the liquid rententionproperties of the diaper as a whole, the pad 55 may have its relativelyouter face lined with latex or other moistureproof material, thus givingadded protection when the diaper is worn as an outer garment.

As many changes could be made in carrying out the above constructionswithout departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended 1 thatall matter contained in the above description or shown in theaccompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in alimiting sense.

I claim:

1. A diaper-type garment comprising a substantially rectangular diaperwhose top and bottom edges define the garment waist-line, and meansforming a longitudinally extending pocket having an open mouthcoextensive with one side edge and being closed along the other sideedge thereof, said pocket extending between the top and bottom edges ofthe diaper and being secured at its ends to the diaper only along saidedges.

2. A diaper-type garment comprising a substantially rectangular fabricbody having a pocket on its inner-face for enclosing a pad of absorbentmaterial, said pocket comprising a piece of fabric material foldedintermediate its side edges to form overlying plies, said plies beingsecured along their ends only to the top and bottom edges of the diaper,thereby to provide a pocket closed along its ends and one side edge andhaving an open mouth coextensive with its other side edge.

3. A diaper-type garment comprising a substantially rectangular fabricbody having an inner-face pocket for enclosing a pad of absorbentmaterial, said pocket comprising a piece of fabric material foldedintermediate its side edges to form three overlying plies of which twoadjacent plies only are secured along their end edges to the top andbottom edges of the diaper thereby to provide a pocket having an openmouth coextensive with one side edge thereof, and the third ply isswingable about its line of fold either to a position relativelyinwardly of the pocket in which it serves as a pocket closure flap or toa position intermediate the pocket and diaper in which it provides anadditional thickness of material outwardly of the pad.

MARY LUCILE NEAL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,989,283 Limacher Jan. 29, 19352,054,310 Warinner Sept. 15, 1936 2,292,030 Kraft Aug. 4, 1942 2,451,300Neal Oct. 12, 1948

